The President of the French Republic welcomed the formation of a new government in Lebanon

Israeli police say two of the six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from Israel's Gilboa prison last week have been arrested in the northern city of Nazareth.

Qatar's Special Representative for Gaza says Palestinian Authority withdraws from Qatar financing agreement for reconstruction of Gaza Strip due to concerns about Qatar's involvement in legal issues

The US State Department announced that the US Special Representative for North Korea will travel to Tokyo next week to discuss disarmament of the Korean Peninsula and other issues with Japanese and South Korean officials.

France raises bird flu alert level after detecting a severe strain of the virus among poultry in European countries, including Belgium and Luxembourg

According to the Tass news agency, John Sullivan, the US ambassador to Moscow, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. Sullivan is said to have been at the State Department for about 20 minutes, but the reason for his summons has not been announced. A diplomatic source told Tass that the move was due to "US interference in the Russian election"